


Monster Among Monsters

by an li (spiderhan)



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged Down Jeongin, Ballet Virtuoso Minho, Coven Head Chan, Dancer Lee Know, M/M, No Smut, Stripper Lee Know, Vampire Chan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 14:03:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17081672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiderhan/pseuds/an%20li
Summary: minho loved dancing, but at 17 he swore to never do it again.at 22, he danced again, but monsters lurked with every step he took, every sway of his hips, and every flick of his wrist.at 25, he almost died because of dancing, had it not been for a grey-eyed client who caught him before he fell.at 25, minho met a monster, but was a man among the monsters that became of his dance.





	Monster Among Monsters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SelenexKat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenexKat/gifts).



 

Minho loved dancing, more than anything in the world. He can't remember when was the first time he moved his feet and swayed his body to the beat of whatever song was playing in his father's stereo. His mother used to tell him that he danced before he could walk, and Minho has never doubted that.

 

 

When he was 3, he enrolled in his first ballet classes. He initially wanted to enroll in hip-hop dance classes, but he was told by his parents that it was important that he hones his body's flexibility before anything else, to get used to the strenuous activity cqlled dancing. Within months, he was already at par with his superiors who have been taking classes for at least 2 years. He surprised his mentors, and to this day, he could still recall their words during his first ballet recital.

 

"Oh, Minho, at this rate you're going, you can be a ballet virtuoso before you're 20! We're so proud of you, kid."

 

Of course, Minho didn't understand what _virtuoso_ meant at that time, but just seeing his mentors' glowing faces was enough to make him feel happy and proud of himself, even if he just thought of dancing as a mere game that he played.

 

At 5, Minho's parents finally allowed him to take hip-hop dance classes at a studio near where his ballet classes were held. How happy he was then! He could finally study the art of dancing sharply, popping and locking, and even b-boying! His teachers were quite surprised at how fast Minho picked up the dances and routines despite his background in ballet. They said that most of their students who studied ballet before hip-hop found it difficult to shift in dancing styles, since one was all about grace and fluidity whilst the other was about sharpness and impact. What surprised them even more was the fact that Minho was taking ballet and hip-hop classes _simultaneously_. _This boy will go so far,_ they all told him. _With his talent, his path to success will be smooth._

But, the path wasn't like that. Minho met a bump in the road when he turned 6, and he was about to start school. His dance class schedules conflicted with all of the school schedules that were suggested by most of the schools that were accessible to Minho's family. There was one school that had a schedule that favoured Minho's class schedules, however, it was an hour away from his home. At that time, his parents were both working, and bringing Minho to school and fetching him would be a huge conflict with their job schedules.

 

_"Should I quit for this year, love?"_

_"If you quit, how would we support Minho's classes? With him being in school, it would be an additional expense. We need all the money we can earn, darling."_

 

Thank the heavens that Minho's ballet mentors decided that he didn't need as much classes as he used to, seeing that he was already quite excellent and at the level of expertise as people almost twice his age would be. Instead of attending his ballet classes five times a week for three hours each session, he only needed three meetings of two hours every week. Minho didn't understand how much this affected his and his parents' life, because all that he knew was that he could go to school and still attend dance classes.

 

Minho was happy. He could still dance.

 

When Minho was 15, for a dance competition, he had perform with a female partner. He was nervous, as it was his first paired dance competition. He had had hundreds of solo competitions and won most of them. Group competitions? No problem. But, a paired dance?

 

Hell no. He had never tried dancing with a partner before this said competition. Actually, he never would have tried it, had it not been a chance for him to earn extra points in his dance class at school, which surprisingly, did not recognize Minho's various achievements outside of school in dancing as proof of his exemplary skills.

 

"We cannot let you pass this class if you don't have a single paired dance perqformance here in your record!" His teacher told him.

 

Yes, Minho did think that he would have it easy in dance class, knowing that he was a well-renowned ballet dancer and one of the members of the most famous dance crew in their city.

 

But, it wasn't enough for him to pass.

 

"You haven't proved yourself to be a good partner in dancing. You may be a good soloist and group dancer, but we haven't seen the sensual side of you; the side that would awaken the passion hidden deep in your soul," his teacher told him, her painted red lips enunciating every word in an overly sensual way.

 

It would have been easy to just say yes and dance with a partner. After all, Minho was a professional dancer. He was supposed to be okay with these kinds of things: the close contact, the smoldering eyes, the scalding hot touches. However, after seeing his senior and hip-hop crew member, Seulgi, cry because she fell for her dance partner’s antics and sweet words, which were just for show and to enhance the chemistry between them while dancing, he became afraid of dancing with partners. He didn’t want to get hurt like that.

 

In the end, Minho decided to dance with Seulgi for the dance competition. It was a safe choice to dance with her, since he was one of the few people who comforted her during the times she was heartbroken because of her dance partner. He won’t catch feelings and neither would she. Very safe, right?

 

Apparently not.

 

One day before the competition, Seulgi called in sick. She caught the flu, and she wasn’t allowed to go back to school until after the competition. Minho panicked when he knew of this. How would he compete if he didn’t have a partner? No one in his class knew the dance except for him and Seulgi, so _how would he perform_?

 

"Minho, apparently, Ten knows about your choreography. Seulgi told me that he helped her in putting it together. Do you want him to be your partner instead?"

 

"Ten-hyung? Be my partner!?" Minho exclaimed at his teacher, his eyes as wide as saucers and voice cracking. Ten was another senior of his, a dancer with a background in ballet just like him, but he focused more on modern dancing at that time. "But, isn’t it supposed to be a girl and a boy in paired dances?"

 

"Not necessarily, Minho," Ten interrupted as he approached Minho and their teacher. "Yes, that’s how it usually is, but same sex partners also happen sometimes. I danced tango with Taeyong-hyung before for this project too. I didn’t hear him complain, nor did the judges."

 

Minho frowned at that. "Well then, who will take Seulgi-noona’s place in the dance, hyung?"

 

"You will. I don’t know her choreography, only yours, for the most part," Ten said looking straight into Minho’s eyes. "Are you up for the challenge?"

 

Minho’s teacher probably saw his hesitation, because she immediately cut in with a very tempting offer. "I’ll give you double points if you win an award in the competition, Minho. Remember, you need to pass this class."

 

Minho was 15 when he first danced with a partner. He was 15 when he first won a paired dance competition. Lee Minho was 15 when he realized that he would never get his heart broken no matter what sugary words his dance partner would tell him and how many suggestive touches they share. He would never fall for a female partner. Ten-hyung sealed the deal and pushed Minho to the opposite lane.

 

Minho thought that from then on, his dancing career would go on smoothly. That was what all aspiring artists and dancers wanted, right? At 17, Minho was preparing his dance repertoire to apply for numerous dance scholarships at the best schools his mentors told him about. He also had a 5 year old ball of sunshine that cheered for him at every competition he joined, supported him in the course of his studies, and played the piano for him to dance to and serneaded him with his angelic voice every night. He was quite confident with his repertoire and was almost sure that he would be able to snitch those scholarships he wanted. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

 

Of course not. Life can’t be _that_ good. At 17, Lee Minho lost almost all the family that he had because of the one thing he loved the most. Had he not rushed his parents in their driving, had he not been so anxious for his scholarship application, and had he not distracted his dad because of his excited chatter, they wouldn’t have collided with a 10-wheeler truck.

 

But, he did. His parents died on the spot. Luckily, his little brother was left at home, safe and sound, away from his brother who only seemed to bring trouble and problems to his family rather than helping them out like he said the first day he attended his ballet class.

 

While he was half-conscious, blood dripping from the side of his head as he waited for the ambulance to arrive, Minho suddenly had an influx of memories rush into his head, all of them reminding him of how much his dancing has cost his family damage.

 

His parents almost quite their jobs because of his dance classes. His parents had to work overtime just to provide for his needs in his dancing and school. His mom faced pregnancy complications because she worked too hard, but all she said was that she wanted Minho to continue his dancing classes and give his little brother a comfortable life once he was out. His parents had to spend less time with his little brother to work day and night to support their family. And now, his parents died because of his anxiety and excitement to attend the audition for his dance scholarship.

 

It was Minho’s fault that his parents suffered. It was his dance’s fault. It was his dance’s fault that he lost his parents.

 

From then on, Minho has hated dancing, and he swore to himself to never dance again. However, things changed when he turned 21.

 

For almost four years, Minho and his brother, Jeongin, were stuck with their uncle and aunt. They were the only people who were willing to take them in and support the siblings’ education. They were good people, taking care of Minho and Jeongin’s needs and treating them like their own children. But, when Minho turned 20, he learned that his uncle and aunt were actually plotting to take Minho’s inheritance from his parents when he turned 21 once they were able to get on his good side and convince him to give up his property and money as payment for their goodness. He heard them one night as he passed by their room after he relieved himself at the bathroom next to it, their door slightly ajar.

 

"When we get the money, we’ll kick them out. I don’t care about those two brats. They’ve been feeding off of us for too long."

 

Minho was having none of it. He didn’t want to give his parents’ hard-earned money and house to the greedy hands of his uncle and aunt. They had to leave. The night Minho turned 21, he took his parents’ house’s keys from his uncle in secret along with their Last Will and Testament and ran away with his little brother and hid in a hotel two cities away.

 

Minho and Jeongin stayed at the hotel for 5 days before Minho decided it was time to look for a laywer to finally be able to open his parents’ account and access the trust fund they left for him and his brother. As he was in the middle of paying for their stay in the hotel, the cashier told him his card was declined. Confused, Minho took out another card to pay, but it was once again declined.

 

"It seems like your account has been frozen, Mister Lee. Would you like to withdraw from the ATM outside?" The cashier asked him, concern written on her face at Minho’s situation.

 

Minho gulped nervously as he nodded and turned away to go outside and withdraw. He used his last card available to withdraw money. This was his where he kept all of his money earned from underground dancing back when he was in high school. The money he got from winning official competitions all went to his family’s expenses, but this underground dancing he participated in couldn’t be known by his parents, so he hid all the money in another account under the guidance of his former boss. He didn’t even want to do anything with the money after his parents died, thinking that this money came from the one thing that destroyed his family. But, he had to swallow all his anger down and use that money to pay for his and his brother’s expenses.

 

_You will know how hard it is to go against the things that you want and believe in if it means that you will be able to make your loved ones happy, Minho,_ his dad used to tell him when Minho told him how jealous he was of hid classmates who had their families with them on family day at school.

_Oh Dad, I know now._

Minho went back to the hotel, his eyes burning as he tried to hold back his tears, the pain of his parents’ death piercing his chest as he handed the money from the root of everything to the cashier.

 

A year later, the money ran out, and Minho’s job couldn’t support his and his brother’s needs. Instead of pursuing dance in university, Minho switched to business management, his anger at dancing consuming him and clouding his mind. When Minho ran away from his uncle and aunt, their financial support was suddenly cut off. Half a month after they ran away, Minho had to drop out and work full time at a nearby café to provide for Jeongin’s needs. But, the money wasn’t enough. Jeongin’s violin and vocal classes were quite expensive, and Minho didn’t want Jeongin to stop them. He could see how happy Jeongin was with them, and if there was any way he could repay his parents for all the sufferings he has caused them, it was to give Jeongin a comfortable life. The question is _how?_

The answer soon came when Minho was job hunting, looking for one that would pay him better than his work at the café. He finally found one in a bar called Indefinite. He was offered a job to be a dancer, but he knew he would do more than that. He said yes, but only had one condition: no one will take him home. 

 

They agreed. He agreed. 

 

At 22, Lee Minho, to give his little brother the life he deserved, did what he hated the most: to dance.

 

 


End file.
